Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-11-13
is OUIDA IMMORAL?
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX DISCUSSES THB
NOVBLIST'S WORKS.
The Efeetof Her Wri6ngs-Hsr HsrolneS Idea and
Real AdYeanrs-fhs Frivolous and Base
10 Modern SOeisy-APor TheOrst
lCop1rishted, ISL

about Ouida." ItcOntained the following
sentences:
The decried immortality Of Ouida j
have never been at all able 70 perceive,
While revealing what she believes TO be
low and contemplate in society Of to-day,
she employs merely the weapons Juyenal
made use of. She is never symPathetlc
with wrong-doing. She lays bare ahke
the sensual and the sOrdid aim, but how
eordiaIly she seem 10 dete5t each mdHrdLs
sajst she describes"
While all this is strictly true, l differ
from Mr.. Faweett, in being able to per
eeiye and fully comprehend the precise
kind of immoral effect produced upon the
unreasonable mind by ''Ouida's' novels.
Nowhere in any of her books, 50 far IS 1
can recall them, is she guilty OF describing
with undue warmth or unnecessary detail
any amorous scene or emotion. She does
not sweep US into any maelstrom Of furious
nassion with a whirlwind Of sublime
words, like Gautier or Swinburne. She does
not initiate us into the unique vices OF the
utterly deprayed, like lola or Daudet.
She does not charm US against our will in
the relation of unlawful amOurs, like Bal
zac.
But with all the strength Of her wonder
full brain, and with the persistency OF a
determined purpose, she sends her bullets
of wit and sarcasm piercing through the
highest ideals and the noblest impulses OF
human nature; while she pants with false
collars a halo which never existed about the
shallow and the insecure.
/ read '~'StrathmOre'' during an un-
formed and romantic period Of my life
''Iady yayasOur" was described as being
like 50 many of 't0uida's' heroines-an
extremely refined, thoroughly charming,
and irresistible creature, wOrshipped and
sought alter, beloved and respected up to
the yery climax OF her adventurous and
wicked career.
/ do not think my natural impulses are
EXCEPTIONAL vicious or immoral, yet l
must confess that the whole career OF Lady
Vavasour, as depicted in "Strathmore, y
was wonderfully fascinating to me. 1t
left a glamour and an influence which was
long in being dispelled. As l look upon
the character now l realize that 1t was
miserably untrue to life.
''Lady Vayasour" was an adventures
a mistress of many men who masqueraded
as the wife of one-and reyelled in all
manner of delight aud success until her
final downfall.
Since | have read the book, l have come
to know in detail the careers Of three ad-
venturesses in real life. Each had-and
perhaps still has-a measure Of success IN
deceiviug respectable people, in being re
ceiyed into pure homes IL winning favOrs
and admiration from influential men. But
in all these cases they lived in terror Of de-
lection and in q fever Of unrest with their
own unhappy hearts. In such case the
woman's name was used lightly by men
who, if they pitied her too much to expose,
despised her accordingly. In each case
there were clean sOuled women who sus'
pected and avoided her. There are no
howery paths Of unalloyed delight for
Lady VayasOurS out of Ouida's novels.
Even more ridiculOysly untrue to life,
and more subtly poisonous to the young
mind, is Oudia'S delineation Of the impOs-
sible character Of Princess Napraxine'
and Countess Othmar." This woman
figures ~ the heronine of two long ro-
mRnceS.
She was, according to Ouida's descrip,
ton. a sOrcereSs whom all men adored, q
married cOquette with hattaliOns of lovers
who fought over and died for her; yet shG
retained the worshipping love and respect
OF both her husbands, bore a spOtless repu'
tatiOn 10 the cad, where we leave her with
her last devoted and 6otiug spouse.
Certainly an attractive character and
career 10 the romantic, pOweI-lOving girl Of
the day
But outside of Onida'S works, the mar
ried firt with a retinue Of lovers who fight
duels tor her favOrs is scandalized by sOci,
ETY., her name is spoken sneeringly by mer
about town, and the husband whose pride
and self-respect is trampled upon usually
ends the matter by seeking q divorce.
Over and over in all her novels Ouida
gives utterauce 70 sentiments like this
from the lips Of Countess Othmar, AS she
muses. about her husband:
at is no good for him TO he jealous and
irritated. II keeps his admiration and his
affection alive. Ii a man be not made
jealous by his wife, he drifts into indiffar'
ence."
There was never worse philosophy Of
fered to the world than this. Never wert
more and untruthful precept:
sent forth to poison ignorant young minds
Nothing could be more destructive tC
happiness than for man or woman to i'm
bibe these ideas and attempt to practieC
them. The affection which must be KEEP
alive by jealousy is not worth the effort,
The husband who is only interested whcr
he is irritsted is but q blank in the lottery
of marriage.
ANY man who is as tender, nOble-heart
ed, and true as Count Othmar was de
scribed would grow to despise the shallow
woman who kept him "irritated anC
Jealous" That sort of breeze may serve
TO fan the flames of courtship, but it in
yariably extinguisheS the fires Of coniuga
love, and leaves only the blackeneC
embers of disgust and the pale ashes O
persisted pride.
Ii is this low ideal of love and marriage
this false halo which she throws abOu'
the career of an adventures, the triumph
Of injustice and emptiness over Justice snC
worth, which constitutes the immortality
of Ouida's works, to my thinking.
invariably close her books with q be
Titled estimate Of human nature and
sense of evaporation toward the Who'll,
universe. In her novels il is the shallow
immoral, insincere, and unworthy womer
who always win the prizes and pleasure
of life. II she Furnishes and uumasks then
at the end, it is not until they have en-
joyeda long carer Of success, unmarried b,
disaster.
The noble, pure, faithful and devote,
women, although endowed with create
physical charms, she invariably gives
very hard time. Neglect and indifference
are their lot. After | read 'Folle Faripe'
i wondered what use there was in bein
good and wretched. when sin and prosper
ity were so much p~leaSanter.
In > somewhat close study of human
nature, | have found nothing to justif
these false pictures which Ouida hs
drawn.
There is nothing fascinating, aud every
thing revolving. in the career Of o real aG
ventures. A beautiful and noble woma
wins ten times the admiration and Low
which falls to the lot of q beautiful ba